MOSCOW, August 30. /TASS/. Russia will take asymmetric measures, first of all in the political and economic spheres, in response to the Russophobic actions of the Baltic nations, the Russian foreign ministry said on Tuesday.
"We don’t want to become like those who have unleashed this campaign and use such barbaric methods. But what is currently going on in the Baltic states is unacceptable for us, and, naturally, it will tell on bilateral relations with these countries, which are already at the lowest ebb. We have been taking and will continue to take asymmetric measure, first of all in the political and economic spheres. Responsibility for what is going on rests entirely on the Baltic authorities, which are reluctant to understand what they are doing," the ministry said.
According to the ministry, the unprecedented barbaric campaign against monuments to Soviet soldiers in Baltic countries and on discrimination of their own Russian-speaking population has gone beyond common sense and humanness.
Apart from that, the Russian foreign ministry noted that nationalists in Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia are distorting history of the 20th century to support the Russophobic course of their states. "Glorification of Nazi accomplices has become part of their policy, which has led to the current wave of desecration of the Soviet memorial heritage. Such policy is incompatible with the annual resolution of the United Nations General Assembly ‘Combating glorification of Nazism, neo-Nazism and other practices that contribute to fuelling contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance," the ministry stressed.
The ministry also drew attention to the calls voiced by Baltic politicians for the deportation of ‘disloyal’ Russians, and for restricting visits to Europe for Russians. "Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis had reached absurd lengths in his Russophobic rhetoric saying that Russians should be permitted to visit Europe only if they recognize Crimea’s ‘occupation.’ The Estonian government’s recent decision to cancel a range of visa categories for Russian is yet another manifestation of xenophobia and hatred to our country," it said.
It is accompanied by the closure of independent Russia-language mass media and broadcasting, kindergartens and schools, which infringes upon the rights of the Russian-speaking minority to receive education in the native language.
Apart from that, according to the ministry, anyone demonstrating support to Russia is persecuted, up to imprisonment.
The ministry stressed that Riga’s, Vilnius’ and Tallinn’s illegal actions violate a range of provisions of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination the are signatories to. Moreover, their actions run counter to the provisions of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, the Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities, the Document of the Copenhagen Meeting of the Conference on the Human Dimension of the CSCE, the Concluding Document of the CSCE Vienna meeting, the Hague Recommendations regarding the Education Rights of National Minorities, and other international human rights documents. "But ‘democrats’ from European and public structures keep silent," the ministry added.